Backpacking Lake Sonoma to Old Sawmill Camp
Where: Lake Sonoma, CA
Trailhead: Skaggs Springs Vista
Length: ~16.5 miles total (point to point)
Quick and dirty Caltopo tutorial (if you want to make your own)
This was a spring time (mid march) hike on the South Lake Trail to Old Sawmill Camp. Reserving is easy — go here! Leave your reservation number on your dash for overnight trips. The trails are maintained and marked. Water was plentiful (bring a filter!) but check current levels if you are going in the summer/fall. The high temp was 55 degrees (F) and the low was 31 degrees (F). Perfect hiking weather!
Day 1 — 8.53 miles
You’ll actually start on the Laughing Springs Loop but quickly meet South Lake Trail. It starts immediately downhill towards lake. We crossed our first stream quickly but the trail would bring many more over the course of the day. The area got a lot of rain the week prior so some of the crossings were probably higher than normal but they were all below ankle height and easy to cross. I would describe this trail as moderate. It has numerous ups and downs as you weave in and out of valleys but the elevation changes were fairly short. We only passed two runners and a bicyclist — no other hikers. We had some sprinkles of rain but nothing major.
Campsite: Old Sawmill Camp
There are other camps you can reserve but I think some are closed until summer. We reserved campsite 8 but no one else was there so we picked the site we liked the best. Each site has a table, trash can, fire pit/grill, and lantern hanger. Some are more maintained/nicer than others. We had the place all to ourselves that night. We slept with our food in our tent. We did hear some noises in the night (metal trash can banging and animals fighting). We may have had a visit from some bobcats! The pit toilets were not clean but they were usable. There was toilet paper but I would bring your own just in case. We filtered water from a very small creek that was flowing into the lake near our site but I would recommend walking back out to South Lake Trail and filtering from the small creek that crosses over the trail just a few feet down from the campsite turn off.
Day 2 — 7.94 miles
We continued down the South Lake Trail until Old Skaggs Road and then it turns into Rancheria Creek Trail. Day 2 was a little more difficult with more uphills and some steeper sections. Right before the Old Skaggs Road junction, there is a deeper creek crossing. It came mid way up my calf and was quite swift but it was easy to cross. The trail goes into a valley to cross another creek over a large log. The last few miles are exposed grassy hills with lake views. We saw no other people until we finished at Liberty Glen Campground. We hadn’t planned to hike out this way. We luckily had cell service at the road and were able to call to get a pick-up. If you do this route, don’t rely on having cell service. Arrange a pick-up beforehand!
Summary: This was an amazing hike that I recommend to all Bay Area people! Logistics were easy. It’s a nice hike to ease into backpacking since the hike-in sites are similar to car camping sites with a table, fire pit, and trash can. It was amazingly deserted and we basically had the whole trail to ourselves. I hear it’s different story in the summer though!
